Pushbuttons



T. G. PICHEL PUSHBUTTONS Manch l, 1966 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March l, 1965 m .mlllnw NG wm/ omJ vNJ 9 MNH INVENTOR THEODORE G. PICHEL FN @N BY Q ATTORNEY March 1, 1966 T. G. PICHEL 3,237,591

PUSHBUTTONS Filed March l, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet v.2

THEODORE G. PICHEL.

ATTORNEY March l, 1966 T. G. PlcHEL 3,237,591

PUSHBUTTONS Filed March l, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR THEODORE G. PICHEL.

BY f,

ATTORNEY United States Patent Oflce 3,237,591 PUSHBUTTONS Theodore G. Pichel, Sunnyvale, Calif., assignor to Hewlett-Packard Company, Palo Alto, Calif., a corporation of California Filed Mar. 1, 1963, Ser. No. 262,013 4 Claims. (Cl. 116-124) This invention relates to a pushbutton which may be mounted on a pushbutton-switch so as to provide a visual indication Iwhen in a depressed or actuated position. Its principal object is to provide a low cost, simple, and reliable pushbutton which becomes luminescent and readily discernible when actuated.

In the drawing,

FIGURE 1 is a half sectional view of the pushbutton assembly when in an actuated position;

FIGURE 2 shows the face of the pushbutton when actuated;

FIGURE 3 shows a cut-away view of the pushbutton assembly when not actuated;

FIGURE 4 shows the yface of the pushbutton when not actuated;

FIGURE 5 shows the construction of the luminescent assembly ofthe pushbutton;

FIGURE 6 shows a sectional view of the pushbutton of FIGURE l taken along the line B-B;

FIGURE 7 Ishows a top view of the luminescent assembly of FIGURE 5;

FIGURE 8 shows a perspective view of the pushbutton; and

FIGURE 9 shows an exploded view of the pushbutton.

Referring to the drawings, there -is shown a pushbutton assembly comprising Van outer casing 12 with an aperture 14 therein. A character plate 16 with a translucent number or indicium `on its face is lixedly mounted yat Ithe aper ture 14 and xedly held in place by a plug-like inner element 18 which is fixedly tted into the outer casing I12. This plug-like inner element 1'8 has a cavity 22 located adjacent to the aperture 14. The inner element 1i8 also has two holes 27 which extend therethrough between the cavity 22 and the end of the inner element 18 which is remote from the aperture 14. A luminescent assembly 20, constructed as shown in FIGURES 5 and 7, is slidably positioned within the cavity 22 of the inner element 118. The luminescent assembly 20 includes a supporting element or plate 24 with two pins 26 attached thereto. The supporting plate 24 is mounted in the cavity 22 by means of the pins 26. These pins 26 extend through the holes 27 provided in the inner element y18 and protrude at the end which is rem-Ote from the aperture 14. A spring 30 is positioned longitudinally between the character plate 16 and `the surface of the supporting plate 24 which is remote from the pins 26. A resilient cushion 32 made of polyurethane foam is fixed to the surface of the supporting plate 24 on which the spring 30 bears. The surface 34 of the res-ilient cushion 32 which is opposite the supporting plate 24 is made luminous with luminescent paint or by iixing luminous paper thereto. The cushion 32 starts to compre-ss only after substantial compression of the spring has brought the surface 34 in close proximity to the aperture 14. When the pushbutton is depressed or actuated, as shown in FIGURE 1, by pushing inward the pins '26 the spring 30 is compressed and the .translucent character 3,237,591 Patented Mar. l, 1966 36 of the character plate 16 comes into direct contact with the luminescent surface 34 causing the character l36 to appear luminous, as shown in FIGURE 2. When the pushbutton is de-actuated, as shown in FIGURE 3, the spring 30 expands moving the character plate 16 away from the luminescent surface 34 causing the character 36 to appear non-luminous, as shown in FIGURE 4. The translucent character -36 causes enough reliection of external light to prevent clearly seeing the luminescent surface 34 when the pushbutton is de-actuated. When the pushbutton is used with a pushbutton switch, it is tixedly mounted on the shaft or plunger of the pushbutton switch with the pins 26 abutting upon a reference surface such as a switch panel for both the actuated and cle-actuated posi tions shown in FIGURES 1 and 3. The pushbutton is depressed to actuate the pushbutton switch. rFOr the depressed pushbutton position corresponding to the actuated position of the pushbutton switch the luminescent surface 34 is in direct contact with the character plate 16 as shown in FIGURE l. The resilient cushion 32 provides the play necessary to permit the pushbutton to be subsequently further depressed to de-actuate the pushbutton switch.

I claim:

1. A pushbutton comprising:

an outer casing having an aperture at one end thereof,

an indicating plate iixedly mounted at said aperture and having a translucent indicium,

Aa supporting plate slidably mounted within said outer casing and supporting a layer of visually contrasting material,

pin-like means connected to said supporting plate to move said supporting plate with respect to said outer casing whereby said layer of visually contrasting material moves toward the translucent indicium of said indicating plate, and

a Clirst resilient element for retracting said supporting plate away from said indicating plate.

2. A pushbutton as in claim 1 including:

a second resilient element between said supporting plate and said layer of visually contrasting material,

said second resilient element starting to compress only after substantial compression of said rst resilient element.

3. A pushbutton as in claim 2 wherein said layer of visually contrasting material is luminous.

4. A pushbutton as in claim 2 wherein:

said first resilient element is a spring; and

said second resilient element is a cushion.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 317,450 5/ 1885 Freuyear 25 0 75 1,600,603 9/ 1926 SchWegler 250-75 1,745,624 2/ 1930 Kiefer 250-75 1,749,881 3/ 1930 Holpher 250-75 2,314,122 3/ 1943 Bruno Z50-79 2,740,023 3/ 1956 Kryder 200-159 2,888,898 6/ 1959 Patterson 116-117 3,163,739 12/ 1964 Hutt ZOO-167 LOUIS I. CAPOZI, Primary Examiner.

J. W. LAWRENCE, Examiner. 

1. A PUSHBOTTOM COMPRISING: AN OUTER CASING HAVING AN APERTURE AT ONE END THEREOF, AN INDICATING PLATE FIXEDLY MOUNTED AT SAID APERTURE AND HAVING A TRANSLUCENT INDICIUM, A SUPPORTING PLATE SLIDABLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID OUTER CASING AND SUPPORTING A LAYER OF VISUALLY CONTRASTING MATERIAL, PIN-LIKE MEANS CONNECTED TO SAID SUPPORTING PLATE TO MOVE SAID SUPPORTING PLATE WITH RESPECT TO SAID OUTER CASING WHEREBY SAID LAYER OF VISUALLY CONTRASTING MATERIAL MOVES TOWARD THE TRANSLUCENT INDICIUM OF SAID INDICATING PLATE, AND A FIRST RESILIENT ELEMENT FOR RETRACTING SAID SUPPORTING PLATE AWAY FROM SAID INDICATING PLATE. 